Baine was making reservations for one at the Ritz Carlton a
week before Valentine’s Day, the reservations were for him. It had become an annual ritual that initially
started as a exercise to rebuild his self-esteem after a difficult breakup with
his ex-lover Nelson. There was still
some progress to be made toward healing himself before Baine would consider
getting into another relationship; and though he had become lonely over the
past 5 years he was still protective of his freedom. It’s funny how years of bad memories can
surge through the mind in mere seconds… that is where Baine was, reliving those
painful moments again but each time seemed lighter than the one before. While he was waiting for the concierge to complete
his reservations he had drifted off daydreaming
while a rather annoying Baroque flourish played in the background. The concierge had put him on hold but had
presently picked up again putting an end to the shrill symphonic argument of
Gabrielli.
“Mr. Terrant are you still holding?” the concierge
asked. Baine provided a blasé
confirmation and he felt as if he had been kept waiting far too long. The woman started to close the reservations
saying, “Let me just go over your reservation for one at The Ritz Carlton
Georgetown location. The reservation
includes the Valentine’s Day buffet for
one at $75.00; A bottle of champagne at $95.00; complementary open bar; hotel
reservations for a single suite with a south facing balcony overlooking the
water for $475.00 for one night and the
total bill will be for $709.50. Will you be using your Visa Black Card Mr.
Terrant? Shall I charge your account now
Mr. Terrant to confirm your reservation?”
Baine, agreed almost without thinking… realizing the bill was
somewhat less than he had estimated so he offered, “Are you certain of the
amount? Only $709.50 sounds great, did I get discount or did you apply some
promotion?” The concierge responded,
“Yes, we noticed this is your 5th year in a row and so the manager
personally took $100 off of the suite which is usually $575.00 per night. So if this price suits you I will go ahead
and run the card now.”
There was a brief pause while Baine absorbed what the
salesperson had said having been distracted by a tenacious pop-up on the screen
of his laptop. He finally pulled his
wits together and authorized the sale then waited for the concierge who
presently resumed, “Thank you Mr. Terrant, your reservations have been approved
your confirmation number, 21420140000012 will be forwarded to your cellphone by
text. We look forward to seeing you next
Friday. Please notify us at least by
Wednesday if you will be using our complementary limousine service and let us
know if you have a preferred driver.
Goodbye!”
The phone went silent and seconds later a series of
electronic beeps followed indicating that the phone connection had been
terminated. Baine looked at the screen,
shifted to his text just seconds after getting the text alert for the promised
confirmation number then shut his phone off before setting it on the desk. Here I go again, he thought, another year
alone but I made it… so the least I can do is blow a few bucks to help me
forget about my loneliness for a night…
Later that night Baine began to pick out his Valentine’s Day
clothes. This year he had got a dark
chocolate silk tuxedo made with an oversized retro 1970’s black silk
collar. He stroked the smooth nap of a
huge brown velvet bowtie he had also had made specifically for this occasion
and placed it next to the white ruffled tuxedo shirt with brown stitch. He thought he’d wear the Baltic Amber studs;
he loved them because each one contained a rare Pleistocene fossil. He spoke out loud to himself, “If a fossil
can last for 2.6 million years then why Nelson couldn’t and I last for just a
few years?” A draught of some good
whiskey ensued lasting only a few minutes in its handsome antique old fashioned
glass. It would have been followed by
another if Baine had not come across a letter hiding at the bottom of one of
his cravat drawers. He set it atop the
desk and glared at it. The stationary
had yellowed from the oils of Baines fingers, from frequent handling and you
could see just where he always held the envelope to pull the note out because
it was distinctly darker than the rest of the paper. Baine set the letter down atop the desk and
went to bed without reading it. He has
read it perhaps a billion times already… he knew it implicitly… now whenever he
thought about it, it made him sleepy.
Friday morning Baine telecommuted and after finishing a few
conference calls he set his email and cellphone with his standard out of office
greeting. He was done for the week and
slipped the cellular into the drawer pulling out his private cellphone and checking
to be certain he had set his business line to forward important data via text. Everything was ready, his housekeeper had packed
the clothes and other items he had thoughtfully laid out in his dressing room a
few days earlier and the limousine was scheduled to pick him up at noon. Baine had chilled an important bottle of champagne
and there were some cheeses and caviar chilling in the refrigerator, everything
was going to turn out perfectly, the way it had for the past few years. When
he turned on his personal cellular phone it rang and whistled and chimed up a
veritable storm. The instantaneous
prompts flashed across the screen just slow enough for him to catch “Happy
Valentine’s Day” and there must have been hundreds of them now in his text
log. For a second he wondered how he
could have gotten so many Valentine’s wishes and no serious offers to spend a
romantic Valentine’s Day. But as
fleeting as the messages illuminated his screen his thoughts moved away from
that direction and back upon the execution of another perfectly planned Valentine’s
Day Celebration spent by himself! How
perfect could that be?
He walked out of the door with a small plate of caviar and a
half-finished bottle of champagne and as his head just nearly cleared the roof of
the limousine the driver let out an inaudible sigh of relief. As he had requested, a collection of early
works of Scott Joplin had been streamed into the limousines club-like sound
system. The driver asked him if he
wanted to go directly his hotel speaking in a handsome Cote d’Ivoire accent
that began to strangely arouse Baines best intentions. At first Baine could not easily formulate any
sound from his lips because his mouth was still very briny from the caviar, hence
the deep gulp of champagne that presently rendered his thoughts audible as he
managed to reply, “Yes, please let’s go take my things to my room now,” then he
hesitated, “I didn’t catch your name?” A
rather lengthy moment of silence followed before the driver actually responded
to Baines request but not, as he had initially thought, because the driver was
being rude. The driver resplied, “Jean-Jaques
my good friend; Jean-Jaques.” It was clear now that Jean-Jaques had been
speaking with someone on his wireless earpiece and had simply not responded
immediately because he was embroiled in a heated debacle with whomever was on
the other end of his phone call. He went
on in a very plaintive and angry voice:
“Je ne sais même pas pourquoi j'ai pris la peine d'essayer de vous aimer Trente, je serais probablement encore plus de chance avec mon iguane. Maintenant,
je suis au volant certaine
baise riche autour
de la Saint Valentin au lieu
de siroter du vin dans vos bras. Je suppose que je ferais mieux de juste essayer
de faire de l'argent puisque je
ne serai pas capable de faire l'amour
... Eh bien au
revoir petit garçon! J'espère que
vous posez avec Somone
qui vous aime comme je le faisais
parce que je ne peux plus aimer ... Je vous donne
à lui! Au revoir! "
Translation : I don't know why I even
bothered to try to love you Trente, I'd probably have better luck with my pet
iguana. Now I'm driving some rich fuck
around on Valentine's Day instead of sipping wine in your arms. I guess I'd better just try to make money
since I won't be able to make love... Well goodbye little boy! I certainly hope you are laying with someone
who will love you the way I did because I cannot love you anymore... I give you
up to him! Goodbye!"
Of course Baine was perfectly oblivious to what Jean-Jaques
had said but alas the human experience is a common one and he realized that his
driver was arguing with his lover, whether it was a woman or man he did not
know at this time but he did catch the name Trente a couple of times and
wondered if his better judgment had run away with him. When Baine got out of the limousine he was
certain that he detected a distinct melancholy in Jean-Jaques voice and decided
to break protocol and invite him upstairs for a quick drink. To his surprise Jean-Jaques eagerly accepted
his offer and in no time the two of them were sitting on a long leather sofa looking
out from a floor to ceiling window that ran the entire length of he suite. The window looked out over the Potomac river,
Watergate and the Kennedy Center
stretched out on the left and the city of Rosslyn rose up like a magnificently
lit spur of light on the south shore of the river. Baine was worried that he had perhaps broken
some unspoken rule and that house management would be pounding on his door with
a huge Ritz Carlton Badge held up in his face.
After a couple of hours went by and they had ordered several bottles of
champagne he realized this was not going to happen… actually he was surprised that he was having a
great time with Jean-Jaques.
Around 2:00 P.M. Baine began to see a change in Jean-Jaques
demeanor, something was ticking up in his brain and he feared it would only be
a short while before he began to ask him if he was married or where his girlfriend
was and even worse he might have to fend off an offer to set him up with a
woman to keep him occupied for the night.
Jean-Jaques was standing opposite him holding his glass and looking
through the effervescence directly at Bain and he said without any hesitation, “So
how long ago did you break up with your boyfriend?” Oddly enough the ice had been so
instantaneously broken that Blaine responded almost immediately, “It has been
nearly 5 years now and although I am no longer in love with him I do not
understand how to open that door which was once there to allow another man into
my heart.”
Jean-Jaques cleared the distance between them and placed his
hand on Blaine’s chest in the area where he imagined his heart to be saying, “It
is not that your heart is not open my friend it is only that you have not met
anyone who understands how to open it.
Your ex either did not care or was incapable of opening up your heart
but it does take a bit more. You see
once a heart is opened one has to step into it and live there. If both lovers are open in that way they live
partially inside of one another and in that way they are able to survive nearly
everything because they now reside in two bodies instead of just one.”
The champagne somehow made what Jean-Jaques said seem so
clear. Blaine began to feel like a child
who was being taught a lesson about love from an elder but he realized that
Jean-Jaques was actually quite younger than him. It’s not age, he thought, but it is
experience that counts the most and this man had certainly lived a great deal, enough
that he was keenly tuned in to Blaine’s temperament. Before he could think anymore Jean-Jaques
began to gather his coat and hat and prepared to leave heading to the bathroom disappearing
down the broad hallway of the suite.
Blaine began to sink into the softness of the couch his eyes fixed on
the huge window and all the lights moving around in the city before him. He was strangely contented to just watch it
and did not desire to become lost in its cacophony. He had forgot that Jean-Jaques was even there
when suddenly he felt two hands trail across his chest from either side and
rest just below his pectorals, he felt the warm fresh breath of Jean-Jaques
massaging his neck and ear as he spoke to him bidding him thanks for the
amazing party. He was almost certain
that Jean-Jaques tongue intentionally licked the inside of his earlobe as he was
speaking to him and when he began to walk to the door he made a quick crotch
check to see if he had been aroused but Jean-Jaques was well composed and
showed no visible signs of arousal. “You
have been a perfect Valentine… Call me if you need me tonight” he whispered to
Blaine before he walked out of the door…
By Bigdaddy Blues…
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